Isaac Shultz's Sonex Project

With the wing skins riveted, there really wasn't much left to do. The two tasks that I focused on this week, were riveting the hinges for ailerons and flaps, and finishing my landing lights. The first task was fairly straightforward, test fit the hinge by fastening it the wingskin, making sure that everything is in more or less perfect alignment. Then replace most of the clecos with loose rivets, and finally use the rivet gun to pull the rivet, tightening the fit thus making the clecos  unnecessary. You remove the few remaining clecos and fit rivets in their spots Badaboom Badabing, hinge riveted. The remaining steps of the landing light installation are, cutting a hole for the light to escape the wing, fitting a lens to retain the proper shape in the leading edge, and installing the lens holding hardware. This week I put the dremel to the metal and cut a hole in the leading edge. You would think it to be fairly straightforward, and for the most part you would be right. The D...

Saturday started early, I woke up brushed my teeth, washed my face, and the like. I looked at my clock 0657. "Perfect timing." At 0700 my dad and I were pulling out of the driveway, off to fly at the airport. When we arrived at the airport the low clouds still had not burned off. They were only at about 700'. A check of the weather revealed that they were supposed to lift to 2,000' soon. We pulled out the Sonex to fly. Even before dad turned crosswind, we both knew that this was not going to work. The clouds, though thin from the surface, made a nearly impenetrable layer sitting right at 500'. Dad quickly flew the rest of the pattern and in no more than 2 minutes, we were on the ground, rolling out from landing. I was faced with a choice, advocate to stay and wait for the clouds to raise, or go home and build. Since this is a build update rather than a flying story, I think you can guess what I chose.   The task layed out for Saturday was to De-burr ...

Finally back to work! Last month, I was all over the US. For the first two weeks, I had a family vacation in Utah. We stayed in a time share, with our extended family in Saint George. I visited places such as Bryce Canyon, Zion, Valley of Fire, and Kolob Canyon. Then we flew back to Mississippi from Las Vegas. I even got to meet the Pilots! After only a few days of rest (where I was at the gym every morning) I found myself on a bus to West Virginia for the BSA 2017 National Jamboree, an event I had been saving for via 3 years of Boy Scout fundraisers. At the Jamboree, I whitewater rafted, walked a million miles, traded patches from all corners of scouting, ran a Spartan Race, earned the geology; archaeology; and game design merit badges, and played in the Highland Games. All in all July was a great month, full of high adventure and exploration!   This is the 12 points of the scout law, spelled out on 12 patches from different states. Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpf...